“Gotta reduce, reuse, recycle…” Jack Johnson sings, and it’s stuck in my head. Here are some tips for more ideas on how to make “reusing” a part of your daily life.

Cloth

I wrote a separate post about cloth toilet paper.

An easier step to take is switching over to cloth napkins. Paper napkins are normally gone through so fast, and it’s a part of your budget that you can easily eliminate. Buy 8-12 cloth napkins and force guests to use them – if there aren’t paper napkins, they will have no other option!

I think sometimes our guests are little wary of using cloth napkins because they don’t want to get them dirty, but that’s the whole point of the napkins. Just gently remind people that that’s all you use, and encourage them to do the same. Throw them in the wash when you’re done.

I can’t wait to try out cloth diapers when we have kids. I don’t have any kids yet, so I can’t speak on this topic, but I’d love to hear your advice if you do use them! Disposable diapers are so wasteful, and costly.

Reusable Bags

I LOVE my Baggu reusable bags. Before this series started, I wrote a whole post about them. Two things I love about Baggu bags: 1. They’re cute! They don’t look like grocery bags and I don’t mind using them wherever I go – Target, Old Navy, CVS, etc. You can use them anywhere. 2. I always have one with me. They easily fold up and are small enough to always keep one in your purse.

I don’t know about you, but I really dislike throwing things away when there’s nothing wrong with them. Plastic sandwich baggies are one of those things. So often all they contained were a few cookies, a sandwich that left hardly any crumbs, or other not-dirty miscellaneous items. Reusable sandwich bags are a girl-like-me’s dream come true! You can buy two bags for about the same price as a few boxes of disposable baggies. It’s so easy to reuse them if you get a brand that is safe to go in the dishwasher. No hand-washing necessary! Neat-os, one of the brands I own, are even safe to go in the washing machine. Here are a few other ones to try: Itzy Ritzy and BooginHead.

Tip: You can find reusable snack bags at the Container Store, on Amazon.com, or sometimes even in the Clearance section at Target.

Menstrual Cup

Okay, this is one of those things that I would love to try, but just haven’t been able to make the jump yet. I know that they are a lot safer than tampons, cheaper and easier to keep track of, and less wasteful, but not having had personal experience with it, it seems too gross to try. I would love to hear your opinions on this!! Have you heard of the Diva Cup?

I know some of these things can seem like an investment at first, but you will save money if you actually use them, you can add these items to your possession slowly if you need to, and you’re making a huge impact on the environment by not making an impact (aka sending your plastic bags, diapers, napkins to the landfill).

Would you try any of these? Do you currently use any cloth or reusable items? What are your favorite brands?